"America has two great dominant strands of political thought - conservatism,
which, at its very best, draws lines that should not be crossed;
and progressivism, which, at its very best, breaks down barriers that
should never have been erected."
-- Bill Clinton, Dedication of the Clinton Presidential Library, November 2004

Republicans and even some moderate Democrats have portrayed Dean as the next George McGovern, who won the 1972 Democratic nomination by appealing to anti-war liberals only to get trounced by a sitting Republican president, Richard Nixon. But behind Dean's liberal image is his record as Vermont governor of reforming welfare, slashing state spending and cutting taxes for businesses.

Moderate Democratic Rep. Cal Dooley of California says Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) is the best Democrat to take on Bush next year. He says Democrats in moderate districts wouldn't want to see Dean on the top of the ticket right now, but that could change if Dean changes his rhetoric and starts talking about his record.

"He's not nearly as liberal people perceive him," Dooley said.

Dean is still evolving his national image as he climbs to the top of the field in fund raising. That rise and his strong views on Iraq (news - web sites) earned him an appearance Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

He had entered the race largely unknown nationally with a record that cannot be simply defined as liberal or conservative.

The ABC Good Morning America appearance was this morning - if anyone has a transcript, please share!

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Obama 2008 - I want my country back

About Nation-Building

Nation-Building was founded by Aziz Poonawalla in August 2002 under the name Dean Nation. Dean Nation was the very
first weblog devoted to a presidential candidate, Howard Dean, and became the vanguard of the Dean netroot phenomenon, raising
over $40,000 for the Dean campaign, pioneering the use of Meetup, and enjoying the attention of the campaign itself, with Joe Trippi
a regular reader (and sometime commentor). Howard Dean himself even left a comment once. Dean Nation was a group weblog effort and counts
among its alumni many of the progressive blogsphere's leading talent including Jerome Armstrong, Matthew Yglesias, and Ezra Klein. After
the election in 2004, the blog refocused onto the theme of "purple politics",
formally changing its name to Nation-Building in June 2006.
The primary focus of the blog is on articulating
purple-state policy at home and
pragmatic liberal interventionism abroad.